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Russia’s plans on ice - Euro Tour work-out

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Published 04 November, 2009, 12:56

World champs Russia are gearing up for the Karjala Cup in Finland, which is the second stage of the Euro Hockey Tour and an important feature in preparations for the Vancouver Olympics.

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Winning only one game in the first stage of the Euro Tour in the Czech Republic became the first warning sign that all is not well in the national team, who are now working in their training camp outside Moscow.

But Vyacheslav Bykov knows that this is not the time to experiment, especially being virtually a breath away from the Winter Games.

With two Euro Tour stages to play before traveling to Canada, the head coach seemingly has plenty of time to tighten up the loose ends.

First up it's the Karjala cup in Finland, which Russia has won the last three times.

“I think all the national teams in this tournament want to win it, especially us. Because we feel that we are a very good team,” Russia’s Viktor Kozlov said.

This time around, the Russian squad is made up entirely from the Continental Hockey League players. The KHL season has conveniently come to a halt at the moment, allowing plenty of time to get ready for the Karjala cup.

Despite having already played at least 20 games this year, Vyacheslav Bykov decided to further optimize the players' form.

And at the last practice before traveling to Helsinki, the head coach decided to go for short but intensive exercises, both on and off the ice.

“One of our goals is as always – to win the Euro Tour. Another is to give the players an opportunity to prove their worth in the Karjala cup in Finland and Channel one cup in Russia. These two will determine who will play in the Olympic Games,” Vyacheslav Bykov said.

Russian NHL stars like Ovechkin, Malkin and Kovalchuk are all obviously highly-desired candidates for the national team. However, they won’t appear on the ice in Russian colors until winter, as they are either involved in the NHL or currently injured.

“Obviously, there’ll be some players from the NHL. I don’t know which proportion it’s going to be but a lot of Russian player good enough for the Olympic team are here now,” Russia’s Oleg Tverdovsky said.

With less than four months to go before the start of the Olympic Games in Vancouver, there's still a lot of work to be done in the Russian camp.

The management of the national team will have to bring the squad up to speed in the two remaining Euro tournaments in Finland and Russia.

However, even then we will not see the complete Olympic team in action as Russian NHL stars will join the squad shortly before the start of the Games in Canada.